Tuesday, 25 July 2017

Tom Watson MP & Glastonbury

Many readers will know that Tom Watson MP (the London-resident who purports to represent dirt-poor West Bromwich East) loves to parade his trendiness [sic] by frequently tweeting and blogging about bands and his trips to elitist Glastonbury (for the rich few, not the many).

Seemingly this grotesque character used to pay for himself but, as I posted in April, the phone company EE paid out £956 for two tickets and accommodation for him and a guest to attend the 2016 event. (Why FFS?)

In March this year, the House of Commons debated ticket-touting and the some MP's also referred to the astronomical prices sought for some tickets by large companies like Ticketmaster. That company operates in the so-called primary market but also owns "secondary" sites like GetMeIn and Seatwave. The lead Tory MP trying to change the law - and in particular to ban "bots" (software used by touts to hoover up tickets ahead of the general public) - Nigel Adams - called for companies like GetMeIn and Seatwave to become "open and transparent". Labour's Sharon Hodgson MP described the market as "broken and parasitical".

Tom Watson was the joint laziest MP in the 2010-2015 parliament but managed to heave his vast bulk into the chamber to comment on this issue:

"Banning bots is a welcome announcement that is long overdue, but a single fix won't solve the problems of the broken ticket market. The package of measures needs to focus on tougher enforcement of existing regulations to stop big ticketing companies flouting the rules without suffering any consequences.This is a significant development in the long running battle to ensure fairness for fans but we'll keep campaigning for the comprehensive set of measures needed to finally end the big ticket rip-off."

Blimey - that sounds like Lazy Tom actually standing on a point of principle for once and he certainly gave it to the big ticket companies hard! But that was March. Fast forward just three months to June, 2017 and Greedy Tom accepted no less that five tickets from a donor to attend Glastonbury and also enjoy "hospitality". He valued the package at a mere £2,445 (equivalent to nearly 34 weeks JSA for an over 25 in West Brom).

Who was the donor? Live Nation - owners of, er, Ticketmaster, owners of, er, GetMeIn and Seatwave.... Let's hope Tommy will be as tough with them next time this scandalous issue comes before the House.....

Coda:

Four days ago "The Wolverhampton C*ck-Suckers (aka The Express and Star) reported that 14 mostly Romanian families were forced out of their homes in Metro Court,West Bromwich due to serious fire safety concerns. One of the directors of the company that owns Metro Court is our old friend, multi-millionaire "Paul" Bassi - quondam donor to Tom Watson MP.

By the way: special thanks to all Skidder readers, helpers and informants as we hit 700,000 views!